It will be my first time travelling to Japan from 15th January – 24th January. I’ll be travelling with another friend.
We have most of the itinerary planned out, but there are some chill days on which we are still open to suggestions/improvements.
**15th January (Sunday)**
* 6 AM – Down at Narita Airport
* Breakfast
* Exchange Jrail pass (set activation date to 18th Jan)
* Get a Suica card
* 7.30 AM / 8.29 AM – Board Keisei-Skyliner to Keisei-Ueno
* Departure time depends on how long we take to complete the above and is according to train schedule)
* 9 AM / 10 AM – Arrive at Ueno
* Activate 72hr Tokyo Metro pass (take note of activation time as it would determine the time we have to leave on 18th Jan)
* Check-in to Airbnb near Tokyo Station
**Things to do for rest of the days from 15th – 17th January \[Chill time @ Tokyo\]**
* Head to Lawson Loppi Ticket Machine and check if Ghibli Museum, Dragon Quest or USJ Monster Hunter XR walk tickets are available
* Akihabara
* Adult toy shop (Yes, my friend wants to check it out lol. We will check out Don Quijote and maybe M’s: Pop Life?)
* Pokemon Centre (Gotta Catch Em All!)
* Try Japan Kfc (Heard Japan kfc is good)
* Izakaya (Saw people recommending Shimokitazawa, but it is a bit further out from Tokyo Station, not sure if it is worth travelling there?)
* Maid-Cafe (Either “At”Home or Maiddreaming)
* Shibuya (Can see the famous crossing and if there are anything interesting nearby)
* Ghibli Museum (if we manage to get tickets)
**18th January (Wednesday) Tokyo -> Kyoto -> Osaka**
* Morning – Depart for Nara Park
* Check-out Airbnb
* Time of departure depends on the time our 72hr Tokyo Metro pass expires
* JR Pass should be activated
* Take Tokaido Shinkansen to Kyoto
* Afternoon – Visit Nara Park & Fushimi Inari
* Evening – Depart to Osaka
* Check-in to Airbnb
**19th January (Thursday) Osaka, USJ**
* Express 4 – Variety Choice which includes the following (some cancelled because closed during our visit)
* (A) Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey™
* (B) Flight of the Hippogriff™
* (C) ~~Hollywood Dream – The Ride~~ **OR** and JAWS™
* (D)The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man – The Ride **OR** ~~4K3D and Jurassic Park – The Ride™~~
* The Area Timed Entry Ticket: THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER™ (Our entry is at 3pm)
* Monster Hunter World XR Walk (if we manage to get the tickets)
**20th January (Friday) Osaka -> Ojiro**
* 3hr Bus up to Ojiro
* Snowboarding
* Onsen
**21st January (Saturday) Ojiro -> Osaka**
* More snowboarding
* Onsen again maybe?
* 3hr Bus back to Osaka
**22nd January (Sunday) Osaka**
* Free and easy in Osaka, maybe just chill and walk around
**23rd January (Monday) Osaka -> Tokyo**
* Check-out Airbnb
* Spend the day at Nijigen No Mori (if we manage to get the Dragon Quest tickets)
* Take Shinkansen back to Tokyo and check-in Airbnb
**24th January (Tuesday) Tokyo -> Home**
* Breakfast at convenience store and then morning flight home
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Questions
1. Any underrated food / place that ought to be visited in Tokyo / Osaka?
2. Will it advisable to visit Nara park / Fushimi Inari in January as it will be cold?
3. We hope to visit Nintendo Area in USJ as well, but our pass does not include a timed entry for it, does anyone know if it is possible to enter if we go early in the morning?
4. Any general tips/tricks for USJ or a recommended ride order?
5. Has anyone been to Nijigen No Mori before? Seems like all their current events stops after 9th January, does anyone know if they they will resume after that or with different events?
4 comments
JR office in Narita airport doesn’t open until 8:30AM but you could always exchange at Ueno afterwards since you aren’t activating until a couple days later ([https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/customer_support/service_center.html](https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/customer_support/service_center.html)).
Tokyo to Nara is 3.5 hours, and Nara park and Fushimi Inari are about an hour away from each other. That’s a lot of travel time in one day, personally i would either do Kyoto or Nara instead of both.
> Izakaya (Saw people recommending Shimokitazawa, but it is a bit further out from Tokyo Station, not sure if it is worth travelling there?)
Not if you are just going to a izakaya unless its like michelin starred or something. There are thousands of Izakaya all throughout Tokyo. You can just do quick search on google maps or some other site specializing in restaurant reviews like Tabelog to get an idea of good ones in your area.
FYI, Shimokitazawa is only about 5 minutes by subway from Shibuya. Although I didn’t remember seeing many izakaya in specific there, but there are lots of shops and bars so it’s a fun enough place to go.